Nanguancheng was later known as Hepo Town, Jiexi County, Jieyang City, Guangdong Province. Lei Cha is still a staple food in that area. Jiexi Leicha has a variety of flavors such as salty, fragrant, sweet, bitter, and sweet. Drinking it feels refreshing in the throat, full of breath, and has a special charm.

The Hakka people in Jiexi have a custom of making Lei Cha. In summer and autumn, when the weather is very hot, people often don’t feel like eating after working, so they often eat Lei Cha as lunch. At noon, when guests come to visit, the host must cook Lei Cai to entertain them. Before a girl gets married, all the neighbors who accept the wedding candies will also cook a bowl of Xianglei tea for the bride to express congratulations. In addition, when the sickness in the family recovers, they will also cook some and invite the neighbors who have taken care of the sick to express their gratitude. .

Making is not complicated

The preparation of Jiexi Lei Cha is not complicated. The main ingredient is rice or popcorn, but the ingredients are complicated. First, put peanuts, sesame seeds, tea leaves, gold buds, or bitter and spicy cores in the bowl, grind them into a paste with a tea stick, wash with boiling water, and then fry some dried radishes, cabbage, green onions, green onions, soybeans, etc. in a casserole. Tree vegetables and more.

Or add some shredded lean meat, shrimp rice, squid, etc., and finally mix with cooked white rice (or popcorn). This kind of Lei Cha tastes sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, and salty. It whets the appetite and is full of flavor. Especially on the seventh day of the first lunar month, every household eats Lei Cha. Because seven kinds of vegetables are used on the seventh day, it is called “seven kinds of vegetable tea”, and fifteen kinds of vegetables are also used, which is called “fifteen kinds of vegetable tea”.

Long history

Jiexi Leicha has a relatively long history. Lu Yu’s “Tea Classics” Volume 3 “I heard that there was a sleepy Shu woman in the south who sold tea porridge”. Combined with the legend of He Po’s place name, this Shu woman may refer to He Po. Lu Yu was a native of the Tang Dynasty, with a history of more than a thousand years. The tea porridge he said was to crush tea leaves into fine rice, add rice flour, oil and salt, and make tea balls or tea cakes. Onion, ginger, pepper, cinnamon and other seasonings are steamed with water to make a large pot of tea porridge for everyone to eat. This is the original Lei Cha.

Wonderful legend

Jiexi Lei Cha has its wonderful legend. Jiexi Leicha is a traditional famous spot in Jiexi, Jieyang, Guangdong. Regarding the origin of Leicha, the current theory is that it is a street snack sold by an old lady He Po in Nanguan City, Hepo Town, Jiexi County, Jieyang City, Guangdong Province. At that time, Nanguan City was the only way to do business in Chaoshan and Huizhou, and He Po’s Lei Cha relieved the fatigue of merchants, so its reputation spread far and wide.

According to legend, in the Northern Song Dynasty, Pan Renmei was ordered by Song Taizong to go south to conquer the Southern Han Dynasty, and sent a small team to attack Guangzhou via Jiexi. When we arrived at Hepo, because most of the soldiers were from the north, and the weather was hot and the climate was unacceptable, the soldiers were vomiting and diarrhea, and they were seriously ill. The generals were anxious, but helpless.

After hearing the news, Po He came and passed on a secret recipe, using “San Sheng Decoction” to drink Lei Cha to cure the disease. According to the needs, she ordered some people to pick tea leaves, some to dig ginger, some to grind rice, and some to find the bowls and sticks. After finishing all these things, a large amount of Lei Cha was quickly made. Because of the use of Leibo, it is called “Lei Cha”. Po He said to give each of the sick soldiers a large bowl of boiling Lei Cha, and then sleep with their heads covered.

When I woke up the next day, everyone was sweating and sneezing profusely. Strange to say, the patients all recovered. Later, some of the people who conquered the south stayed to farm, so Leicha was handed down not only in Jiexi County, but also in northern Guangdong, western Hunan, southern Jiangxi and other places where Hakka people live together, and became a major feature of southern food folk customs.

Classification

Jiexi Leicha is very distinctive and diverse. It can be divided into the following types of tea, namely “Jingcha”, “Caicha”, “Fancha”, “Rice bone tea” and “烳米茶”. During the period, there are “Micheng Tea” that goes with the snack “Micheng”, “Seven Vegetable Tea” on the seventh day of the first lunar month, and “Fifteen Vegetable Tea” on the fifteenth day of the Lantern Festival.